[chillyfeez]

Yeah, both adjustments look great.

[Mari42]

I love how that was replaced from GBA with all the images I see from the previous post.  I looks pretty nice.

[Gedankenschild]

I love how that was replaced from GBA with all the images I see from the previous post.  I looks pretty nice.

Thanks!

Currently I'm working on the crystal room tileset. The basic changes are not as dramatic here, the real improvement is in the shadows and additional floor tiles that come next.

[Mari42]

I might make a video for this one until you release this one sooner or later, because I love how you make that similar details to it. Are you going to include the player to dash as well?

[Gedankenschild]

I might make a video for this one until you release this one sooner or later, because I love how make that similar details to it. Are you going to include the player to dash as well?

I think chillyfeez released his own dash patch already. It should work in combination with this one, as long as you apply it first. Whether I would like to integrate it into this patch at some point, I'm not sure. Currently the focus is on updating the graphics, not necessarily the game mechanics. We'll see where this goes.

Something else: Those of you who know both versions should be aware that certain enemies have been shrunk to fit the smaller handheld screen. None of these ever made it back to their original size (even in the Wii version). I always felt that it would be nice to see them restored to their original size with the improved palettes. So I've been sketching a bit:



Thoughts?

[chillyfeez]

I think chillyfeez released his own dash patch already. It should work in combination with this one, as long as you apply it first. Whether I would like to integrate it into this patch at some point, I'm not sure. Currently the focus is on updating the graphics, not necessarily the game mechanics. We'll see where this goes.

Yup, User Options is a patch I made that adds some gameplay functionality to FFIV without affecting any other aspect of the game. There is some custom assembly, but I tried to keep it minimally invasive. The dash function is a toggle, not a hold-to-dash. Long story short, I tried that and it never came out quite right.

Something else: Those of you who know both versions should be aware that certain enemies have been shrunk to fit the smaller handheld screen. None of these ever made it back to their original size (even in the Wii version). I always felt that it would be nice to see them restored to their original size with the improved palettes. So I've been sketching a bit:



Thoughts?

The one in the middle is your edit, right? Looks great. Probably good to have them back to their original sizes, although the smaller sizes could allow those monsters to be placed into more diverse encounter arrangements... But I don't know if that's really a big deal. Of course, I imagine reverting the size back means a buttload more work for you...
On a somewhat related note, I don't think I ever realized that thee Naga's head actually looks like a man's head with long hair...

[Grimoire LD]

That is difficult to say... Like Chillyfeez I like the idea of having more enemies available for encounters due to space, but at the same time the larger they are the more detailed they are. I'll have to leave this vote to others. They both seem like really good options.

[Gedankenschild]

I wonder if a closer look at the PSX port would yield usable results. That one has a dash function doesn't it? And it's basically running the SNES version code. Maybe Gemini could help...

And, yes, the middle one is mine. One of the problems is that the shrunk enemies have special sizes, that don't quite fit in the existing ones. I already expanded the enemy size table and included the new ones. But then status effects started misbehaving. The egg looked weird when it had a Naga in it and the hatching animation wasn't placed correctly either. I wasn't sure wether I wanted to redo the enemies anyway, so I stopped working on that for the time being.

[CourtlyHades296]

Wow. That's looking amazing so far. Can't wait to play it.

[zfreeman]

I hate grinding, so the more enemies to slaughter, the better.

[Gedankenschild]

Thanks!

I inserted the additional floor tiles and some other details.

[zfreeman]

Any thoughts on the new Un-J2e translation?

[chillyfeez]

Any thoughts on the new Un-J2e translation?

Are you referring to Project II, Namingway Edition, or some other project I've not yet heard of?

[Chronosplit]

Are you referring to Project II, Namingway Edition, or some other project I've not yet heard of?

I'm pretty sure he's referring to Spooniest's addendum to J2e.

I haven't played yet, but it definitely looks worth a spin.

[Spooniest]

J2Eviscerate's based on the Japanese version. So if this is a project that depends on the rom data being where it is in the US version, then they are probably not compatible.

On the other hand, if the graphical data is identical in the US and JP versions, then they might be compatible.

I have 0% chance of knowing which is the case.

edit: Upon actually buckling down and reading the thread a little (I know, doin' hard work), I notice that Gedankenschild is planning to do separate patches for the US and JP versions.

So who knows?

[Gedankenschild]

In terms of code the US and Japanese version only have very few differences. Easy Type moves things around a bit more. But the differences are very easy to keep track of. A few basic hex searches even do the trick.
As long as a patch doesn't mess mess with graphics loading code etc there should be no problem. My goal was always to keep it as compatible as possible. I also stay away from the few areas in the ROM with free space, because I know others like to use them for their hacks.

[octorox]

I know the topic has been dormant for a little while but I just wanted to say that I hope you continue your work because it looks incredible! I'd love to pair this with the Namingway edition.

[Gedankenschild]

Time for an update!

I've answered some questions via direct messages, but it's about time I update this one publicly. Sorry for not responding earlier, octorox. I was browsing the "Personal Projects" section somewhat regularly, thinking I would catch it if my own thread got bumped. Obviously I didn't...

So shortly after my last message here I suffered hard drive failure and temporarily lost some of the stuff I had been working on. Not too much, since I was at least smart enough to regularly copy my files to a backup USB stick. I was pissed none the less, resulting in me taking a break from the project. I was able to boot the old HDD one last time since and recover everything.

Recently I've been rewriting pretty much the entire code since my understanding of how it all works has improved. Instead of putting endless amounts of JSLs everywhere I'm now rewriting/optimizing the existing loading routines. It's nice to know the hack is at least somewhat professional under the surface.

The downside is that this type of work really doesn't result in screenshots to show off, so I had no motivation to update here.

I don't think I've shared Lunar Core stuff though, which I did do recently...



I wanna say thank you to everyone I've seen asking about this and talking about it. It certainly is nice to know other people are interested. I did assume most people would go "just play one of the remakes".

[chillyfeez]

Looks great. I love the shadowed effect created by the use of multiple floor tiles.
Glad to see you're still working on this, too!

[Vanya]

Those shots look fantastic!
The work you are doing is very worthwhile, don't doubt that. There is something to be said for being able to implement these sorts of improvements in the original versions.

And even if you don't have screen shots to share feel free to show off your code, too. You'd be surprised how many of us here would be interested to see that sort of thing. Plus if there is an issue with your code someone might catch it and save you some trouble down the line. And moreover, they can be good examples for other coders that are just starting out.